Seattle’s Bold Real Estate Deal Sets Banking on A Museum
Developer Matt Griffin, rainmaker for the bold deal in Seattle that joined a cash-rich, dirt-poor bank with a dirt-rich, cash-poor art museum to produce a $370-million mixed-use development, plays down the design distress and construction contortions created by commingling “suits and smocks” in a single tall building. Everyone else says the deal created a two-headed monster with a split personality.
Washington Mutual, the nation’s fifth-largest mortgage lender, wanted to build its headquarters on property adjacent to and owned by Seattle Art Museum Downtown as a 42-story office tower with a 16-story extension. Twelve of the 16 stories would be used by SAM, which wanted to expand but had no money. WaMu essentially bought the SAM property and financed the development.